


Willow

by Vita_S_West



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Post-Mission, Swimming, Walks In The Woods, some calm in the chaos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-18 09:28:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29116032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vita_S_West/pseuds/Vita_S_West
Summary: They were finished with their mission, but were not headed back to the dankness of the bunker. Not just yet. Their freedom had been extended, creating an openness that Lucy wouldn’t have known what to do with, let alone approach with the tacit beginnings of enjoyment. Instead she wandered a sun-soaked forest with a former enemy-turned friend. Thus was the power of Flynn.
Relationships: Garcia Flynn/Lucy Preston
Comments: 12
Kudos: 20





	Willow

**Author's Note:**

> it's been so long since i've written any fic (pandemic, job, life, etc.) pls enjoy this short bit of calm in the chaos

With their part of the mission complete, Lucy and Flynn were left to wait, trusting that Rufus and Wyatt would find their way back to the Lifeboat in their own time. Dividing to conquer often seemed to be a necessary strategy. In the aftermath of their race to stop the sleeper agent, the adrenaline rush and the violence, an uncomfortable sort of calm fell over Lucy. They may as well have been left waiting in a parking lot rather than the woods, an entirely monotonous conclusion to their mission, totally incongruous to its beginning. 

Outside the Lifeboat, Lucy sat, unwilling to confine herself unnecessarily, especially the heat of high summer New Hampshire, 1934. Flynn paced, using his stolen hat as a fan. Lucy would have been content to watch and listen to his footfalls hit the moss of the forest floor, while feeling the sun stream through the trees, if it weren’t for the humidity. And the bugs.  


“Come on,” Flynn said, checking his watch, a  digital  anachronism that Lucy couldn’t argue against considering its usefulness.

“What?” she asked, sitting up straighter, fighting off the heat-induced drowsiness.

“We passed that lake when we were going the wrong way earlier, we may as well take a dip.”

“And what happens when they come back and we’re not here?”

“We can leave a note.”

Lucy raised her eyebrows at him. “Do you actually think it would be cooler? It looked more like a pond to me.”

“It can’t be worse than waiting around here. Besides, the insects can’t bite you in the water,” he grumbled, and swatted with aggrieved exaggeration.

“There could be leeches.”

“I’ll protect you,” he offered with a smile.

She shook her head at him, but didn’t protest further. She found she wanted to be convinced. She wanted to go even if she felt she ought to disapprove and that going would be like shirking her responsibilities. She wanted to go to add motion to her day, which suddenly seemed kneecapped with waiting. She wanted to go with him.  


When he offered her his hand she shook her head again, but took it nonetheless. He pulled her up.  


Their note left, they set off, arms swinging. Lucy spied a smile that seemed to grow on Flynn’s face as he examined the trees around them. Unbidden, Lucy felt one of her own form. It took some time for her to accept that they were done with the mission. She wasn’t sure why she still felt a sense of unease, despite the sun and despite the general success in curtailing the sleeper agent’s attempt to upend history. She tried to focus on Flynn’s ease, to let it reassure her and ground her. It was as he hummed some vague but airy tune that it struck her. They were finished with their mission, but were not headed back to the dankness of the bunker. Not just yet. Their freedom had been extended, creating an openness that she wouldn’t have known what to do with, let alone approach with the tacit beginnings of enjoyment. Instead she wandered a sun-soaked forest with a former enemy-turned friend. Thus was the power of Flynn, unburdened, calm.

It put a spring in her step.

He seemed to notice immediately and gave her a wider smile. She shook her head at him, not wanting to seem  _ too _ pleased. She couldn’t quite banish her own smile though.

It seemed that the break in the trees and its accompanying pond and clearing found them rather than their finding it. The pond was a sheet of silver, reflecting the sun, resounding with a pristine sense of calm. With a brief exchange of glances and a shared laugh they immediately tossed off shoes and socks—stockings in Lucy’s case—and started to wade. They gazed out beyond the fringe of willows and hawthorn bushes, at sunlit trees, hiding sunlit hills, as chilly water and soft mud cooled their skin. Minnows darted around her feet. When she closed her eyes, she could feel dozens of tiny mouths tapping at her skin.

Lucy would have been content with the wading, but Flynn had other ideas.

“What are you doing?” she asked, when he receded from the water, unbuttoning his shirt as he went.

“You don’t fancy a dip? Or were you actually scared of the leeches?”

“What if someone comes?”

“Lucy, we walked miles from forests and farm country into town and saw one person. We’ll be fine… Care to join me?” He raised his eyebrows at her, daring and inviting all at once.

“That’s tempting fate.”

“Is it?”

It wasn’t that Lucy didn’t want to. 

Flynn shrugged at her as he passed her, a glisten of sweat on his arms, which Lucy pretended not to notice. He left his pants on, cuffed part way up his calf, wading past Lucy and then further. Seconds after, he dove in, creating a cascade of waves that reduced to barely a tickle by the time they reached her ankles. He resurfaced, eyes blinking, wiping sopping hair from his face. He turned back, grinning, splashing in her direction.

It was the novelty of it. The fact that she couldn’t remember the last time she went swimming. The last time she wandered in the sun, not in a rush after a sleeper agent or Emma. Just on her own time, with no one to share it with other than Flynn. She didn’t want to be convinced anymore. She’d convinced herself.

She slid off her dress, laying it down next to his shirt, creating an odd image that tugged at her mind with its intimacy. She left her slip on, already feeling more relief from the heat. She waded in after him. The water climbed the fabric of her slip, a vanguard, ahead of her skin, creating a kind of suspense, before her skin submerged.

“It’s freezing,” Lucy said.

“You can’t say it isn’t better than before. You just need to keep moving.”

He wasn’t wrong, the humidity had been so thick it was like second skin, one that Lucy was only now getting to wash off.

They swam small laps, frequently splashing each other, pausing only to laugh. The shock of the water on her skin wore off gradually, leaving a comfortable and tolerable chill. 

Floating on her back, Lucy watched the treetops wave against the luminous blue of the sky. The lightest caress of a breeze passed over her face. Her ears deafened with water and the whole world seemed quiet. This was the first hour of peace she’d experienced in so long. 

She felt Flynn swim past her a few times, creating a current that pushed her back and forth, giving rhythm to her drift. Then his artificial current slowed and then stopped. She pulled herself up, water still clogging her ears, to see him floating feet away from her, his arms extended. 

Floating on her back, it occurred to her that she could have gone an hour without knowing he was right beside her—but there he was. A quiet and patient comfort. There he was. 

It occurred to her, she could reach out and touch him, so she did. She slipped her hand through the water until she found his hand. There was a brief moment of awkwardness as he felt her touch and then when they tried to configure their fingers into the other’s grip, but they managed it.

Floating, arms extended and fingers entwined, they felt the sun upon their faces, the whole world forgotten.


End file.
